App Studio Properties Pane

The Properties Docking Pane displays the Properties for various configurable elements which make up a form, such as the form itself, Controls, Data Sources, data items and resource files. In addition, there is a set of Project Properties which affect the Project overall rather than specific items.

The Properties Pane is one of the App Studio main window docking panes.

 

The Properties are options, or settings, which contain information that affects how individual items appear and/or behave. Each particular type of item has a distinct set of Properties relevant to the item in question. For example, forms have one set of Properties, Buttons have a different set and Check Boxes yet another set. Each individual example of an item has its own set of the Properties appropriate to the type of item it is, so, for example, if you add two Buttons to a form, both Buttons will have the same set of Properties but each will have its own copy of those Properties, allowing you to configure the two independently.

The Properties for a particular item are displayed in the Properties Pane when you click on that item in the Forms, Data Sources or Resources Panes or when you select a form or Control in the Workspace. You can also display the Properties for various items by choosing Properties from the right-click context menus within the panes or Workspace. The Project Properties can be accessed by clicking on the root node in the Forms or Data Sources Docking Panes or right-clicking on white space in either Pane and then choosing Project Properties from the context menu displayed.

 

The Properties are displayed in a standard Property grid format and for those familiar with this type of grid can be edited in the usual way. Most of the Properties can be edited although some are read-only. To get information about an individual Property, click on the Property to display a brief explanation of it in the panel at the bottom of the pane. The toolbar at the top of the pane allows you to switch between a categorized view and an alphabetical one.

 

To view or edit a Property, scroll through the list of Properties, to find the one you want.

 

The names of the Properties are displayed on the left with the current value appearing to the right of each Property name. Clicking on a Property name or value will select and highlight that Property. The Properties are grouped within Categories for convenience and you can expand and contract Categories by clicking on the and buttons, respectively, to the left of the Category name.

 

To edit a Property, click on the value for that Property. Properties are generally displayed in one of the following forms:

• An edit box - type in the value you require. You can edit the text in standard ways. An edit box may allow numbers or letters only or a mixture of both, depending upon the function of the Property.
• A drop-down list box – click on the arrow button, , displayed on the right of the value to display a list of possible values for this Property.
• True/False options – a special form of the drop-down list box where the only choices are True or False. In these options, you can either select the required value from the drop-down list or double-clicking on the Property will toggle the value.

In addition, some Properties display a browse button, , on the right of the value when you select the option. Clicking on the button will display a dialog box for you to browse to and select a file or enter other required information.

 

If you edit a Property, you must then click elsewhere on the Properties Grid in order to accept the change.

 

By default, if multiple Controls are selected on a form, the Property Grid displays only those Properties which are common to all the selected Controls. If a Property's value is the same for all the selected Controls, the value will be displayed in the grid, otherwise the value field will be blank. Editing one of the Controls will set the new value for all the selected Controls. This behaviour is controlled by the Enhanced Property Grid option on the Advanced tab in the App Studio Settings and can be disabled if preferred. Note, however, that this option affects other aspects of the Property Grid's behaviour as well - see the Enhanced Property Grid option's description for details.

 

Remember to save your changes from time to time and if you have any unsaved changes when you attempt to close App Studio you will be asked whether the changes should be saved first.

 

If you have hidden the Properties Pane, either from the Show/Hide group on the Ribbon's View tab or using the drawing pin icon on the pane's title bar, you can display the Properties for an item by right-clicking on the item in the appropriate Docking Pane and choosing Properties from the menu displayed.